The TVR Speed Eight is a naturally-aspirated V8 car engine designed by Alwyn Melling of the design consultancy MCD, and manufactured for road legal cars production (TVR introduced the Cerbera at the 1993 London Motor Show), from 1996 to 2003.
[3] The reason behind the engine's development and production was that Rover, after previous announcements, was bought by BMW in 1994, and Peter Wheeler, the owner of TVR at the time, feared that BMW would drop the Rover V8 engine used in TVRs since the early 80's.
The Speed Eight featured many aspects found in a racing engine, such as a flat plane crankshaft, a 75-degree angle between the cylinder banks,[4] a SOHC arrangement operating two valves per cylinder, and sequential fuel injection.
[citation needed] Two versions of the Speed Eight engine were offered by TVR on the Cerbera Road car: one, displacing 4.2L and producing 360 bhp (270 kW; 360 PS), and the other displacing 4.5L and producing 420 bhp (310 kW; 430 PS).
[4] A Red Rose conversion was made available that increased output to 440 bhp (330 kW; 450 PS) when using fuel with a minimum octane rating of 97 RON.